The Tremblers

by Raquel Byrnes

  We’d been face to face with them together.

  But it happened before all of this. Before I ever left my home. “It was the heat of the tracer fire,” I explained, finally understanding. “The super excitation of the poisonous particles concentrated in the lungs at the moment of the surge. The extreme temperature must transform the toxin.”

  “And the screams deliver the blight,” Tesla murmured.

  “That is the secondary infection. It is how the Trembling Sickness has spread from the initial workers to others outside of the mines and factories.” Lizzie shook her head, her mouth turned down. “Anyone is vulnerable, then, if the conditions are right.”

  “It is not normal heating,” Tesla supposed. “I believe it must be extraordinary temperatures, like the lash of a tracer, at least initially, according to Colonel Blackburn’s calculations.”

  “The cold,” I said, hugging myself. “The cold is so overwhelming that you must find heat. The steam works, the moat of bodies around the pipes, all of that was the Tremblers seeking heat.”

  “The urge to seek heat makes them even more dangerous because I suspect they become more and more toxic as they deteriorate. The blight builds in their bodies and if they find an excessive heat source they can infect those around them.” Tesla waved his cane as he spoke, his face animated. “The additive Rothfair and his chemists concocted was designed to lower temperature. That is essentially what this blight does to people. It freezes them from the inside out until they shake themselves apart,” Tesla continued.

  Lizzie’s gaze went to mine, her face ashen as I met her gaze. She had seen me shake and knew my fate.

  “Tesla,” she began, but I put her off with a raised hand.

  “There is something that eludes us about all of this, Miss Blackburn,” he said, ignoring Lizzie. “This Rothfair, tell me about him.”

  “He sent his henchman, Verne, to a warehouse owned by Helical Industries,” A low voice answered from behind us, and I didn’t have to look to know it was him.

  Ashton.

  I whirled, stumbling over my own feet as the stiff joints of my knees and ankles failed to move correctly. Nearly going down, strong arms caught me at the waist.

  “Whoa, there.” Ashton held me to his chest, his dark eyes both relieved and annoyed. “Do you purposely attempt to drive me to distraction or is it innate?”

  “Ash.” I threw my arms around his neck, burying my face in his chest and breathing in the scent of him. Bandages wrapped around one shoulder across his chest and under his opposite arm. Bruises marred his handsome features and his gaze was so filled with fatigue I wondered how he stood. And yet here he was, right when I needed him. He always seemed to be doing that. “I—I thought…”

  “Never.” He tried to pull me away, to look at me.

  I covered my eyes with my hands. “Don’t…” Shame bubbled within me. “Do not look at me.”

  “Please, Charlie,” he whispered. Reluctantly, I lifted my gaze, sure his face would twist with disgust upon seeing the dark rings around my irises or viewing my tinted fingers. Instead, he brushed aside a lock of hair from my forehead and lifted my hand to his lips, brushing a kiss along my knuckles. “Just as breathtaking as ever.”

  I did not realize I was holding my breath until then. Could I still expose him? I took a step back.

  “How…?” I started.

  Scruffy chin, tousled hair, and fatigue lining his eyes, he never looked more wonderful to me.

  “How are you here?”

  “I told him where I was taking you.” Lizzie pulled the goggles from her face, smiling at him with a nod. “You said Helical Industries?”

  “They’ve loaded a fair amount of supplies over the past hours,” Ashton answered. “My sources confirmed it before I came here. Rothfair is up to something. I just don’t know what.”

  “Could anyone get close?” Lizzie asked.

  “Not as close as I would have liked.” Ashton pulled a paper from his vest, unfolding it and spreading it on the small table. “I sketched the symbols that were on the crates.”

  I leaned over, not sure what I was looking at. Small suns, shapes that resembled hair combs, poles, and others I did not recognize.

  “Did any of your sources have an idea as to what he was loading?” Lizzie asked, her face scrunched.

  “None that made sense.”

  “I can have a man inside by tomorrow. We’ll snatch a manifest and figure it out. Learn anything else?” Lizzie pushed the sketch aside.

  “He had soldiers guarding the transfer. No one was able to see what he was doing.” Ashton ran his hand through his wave of dark hair, frustrated. “But it is something, Lizzie. Your men are attempting to follow.”

  “Who is this? What are you talking about?” Tesla pointed with his cane to Ashton’s arm, shaking his finger at the shackle on his wrist. “The Order? I’ve had dealings with that treacherous coven. Siding with whoever serves them best…how dare you invade—”

  “Please, Ashton is not with them,” I tried, but Tesla gathered up the journal and backing up against the wall, he pulled a revolver from the counter drawer.

  “You cannot have it.” He aimed with shaking hands. “This belongs to the people.”

  “Mr. Tesla, put that down.” I stepped between him and Ashton.

  “Be careful, Charlie,” Ashton said, trying to pull me aside.

  “Easy, Tesla,” Lizzie murmured. “That boy is not what you think he is.”

  I nodded, forcing a smile to my lips. “Yes, he risked his life to get the journal to you. The Order, his entire life and all he knows, he cast aside to do the right thing.” I put my hands out to my sides, palms up, completely relenting. “Ashton has given everything for this truth to come to light.”

  “You go,” Tesla motioned for Lizzie and handed her the journal. “Take Blackburn and warn the workers at Rothfair’s facility first, then all the others. There is no telling how many are involved. Get the people to safety and then we will figure out who is at fault. Go, tell everyone who will listen. The truth belongs to the people,” Tesla said, dropping the gun onto the counter as he narrowed his gaze at Ashton. “Not to The Order. Not to the Governors.”

  “Yes…” I let my hands fall to my sides, so overwhelmingly tired. “It does.” My knees knocked together, all the strength gone as minute shivers started up the long muscles of my legs.

  “Ash?” Lizzie glanced at him.

  “I will remain here.”

  “But Ashton—” A shudder rocked through me, cutting off my words. I hugged myself, biting down with such force my jaw popped. Collapsing to my knees, I doubled over, reaching for the ground to steady my quaking torso.

  Ashton was at my side in moments. Draping his coat around my shoulders, he bound me in it, cinching me in by tying the arms at my chest and holding me to him.

  “She’s worsening,” Lizzie said next to us.

  Struggling to open my clenched eyes, every muscle pulled tight, shuddering as agonizing cold stabbed through my chest, I gasped, trying to speak. My words came out in chilled vapor.

  “What is this?” Tesla’s voice sounded far away, wary. “What is going on?”

  “Lizzie, get the elixir,” Ashton yelled, his voice breaking. “Hurry.”

  I bit back a wail, crying out as I pushed back with everything I had.

  “G—get away, Ash,” I chattered. “I don’t want to—”

  Lizzie’s boots came into view, she handed Ashton the syringe.

  “Forgive me, Charlie.” He held me down with his one hand and jammed the needle into the meat of my shoulder with the other.

  The elixir spread through my muscles like lava, burning through with searing pain until all I could do was gasp for breath and try to endure. Why did it hurt so much more than the last time?

  Ashton held me, his arm encircling me as the shaking ebbed.

  The pain subsided, replaced with the heavy numbness of before, only this time, the chattering cold remained. I could not s
top shivering.

  Ashton wrapped himself around me as we sat on the floor, enfolding me with his body. This was a cold he could not cover.

  “Bring her here.” A ruckus near the wall pulled my gaze. Tesla tangled with a grilled machine. He pounded it with his cane and the wire infused case sparked, bringing the device to life. Rods burned hot behind the screen. “Artificial hearth,” he explained as Ashton and Lizzie helped me over.

  “I’m all right,” I said, wobbling on my feet as they settled me in the corner chair. Holding onto the arms of the seat, I pushed back at the rising volume of churning voices in my head and fought with all of my might to keep control over my mind and body. I tried to focus on him, on the sound of his voice. “I am sorry about the way I left you in the safe house.”

  “Well, I can’t say I would not have done the same thing.” Ashton smiled, his gaze holding mine. “But you should have let me help you, Charlie.”

  Shaking my head, I ran my fingertips near the burns on his neck, sliding my hand to his shoulder. He winced. “I do not regret keeping you safe.”

  “I heard it was you who unmasked Rothfair as the man behind all of this.” Ashton knelt next to me. “And that you tore a swath through the city while I was unconscious. Shootouts and explosions?”

  “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” I whispered. The image of the soldier in the railway station sparked behind my eyes and I jolted. His look of shock as he died turned my stomach. “My face is all over the aether with stories making me out to be some sort of rebel when all I wanted was my father. But they were beating her and I couldn’t stop myself…”

  “I know,” Ashton murmured. He ran his thumb across my cheek. “You would not kill without reason. And your father. I heard you…”

  “Rothfair had my father tied to a chair like some rabid…” I gritted my teeth, blocking the image from my mind. “He’s gone. My father is gone now.”

  “I am so sorry, Charlie,” Ashton said, frowning.

  “Charlie, I need to get this message out to my people.” Lizzie shot a look at me and then back at Tesla. “I have to go, love. I can’t leave them there one second longer.”

  “Of course, go.” I reached for her and she took my hand. “Thank you for helping me do as my father asked.”

  “Oh, Blackburn,” she said, a slight smile on her lips. “It has been a pleasure fighting with you.”

  “No debutante?” I quirked a brow.

  “I think not anymore.” She pulled the strap of her bag over head, and then drew the dagger holstered at her waist and placed it on my lap. It bore the fist and torch of Defiance on the handle. “I think that maybe you are much more than that.”

  The knife felt heavy in my hand and I hefted it appreciatively. Giving a nod and a smile, I said, “The honor is mine, Lizzie.”

  “If you are ever in need.” She nodded to me and I smiled, thankful. Addressing all of us, Lizzie straightened her bodice with a tug. “Time is of the essence. I must go.”

  “You must go too,” I said to Ashton. “It is all right. Stop this.”

  “I’m staying.” Ashton said evenly. “Lizzie has her fighters. Defiance will be fine without a turncoat spy.”

  “I wish you both well,” Lizzie said and turned for the doorway. In an instant she was gone into the tunnels beneath the city with my father’s journal.

  Tesla hobbled with his cane around the counter, dusting the residue of the catalyst from his hair. He stopped at the small table, squinting at the sketches Ashton had shown Lizzie. Sitting, he frowned and muttered as he tilted his head.

  “Get some rest, Charlie,” Ashton said. “You have earned it.”

  I leaned against him and drifted in and out of sleep.

  Tesla was digging through boxes, pulling books from his shelf, and scrounging in the bins of his workshop. He propped himself at the counter, his nose buried in a blueprint.

  Ashton’s even breaths soothed me as I floated, heavy with fatigue.

  “Wake up,” Tesla’s urgent voice pulled me from a deep blackness. He poked at my back with his cane. “Blackburn!”

  Coughing, I gasped, sucking in the warm air. I covered my mouth, careful to keep from breathing on either of them.

  Ashton stirred next to me, his eyes bleary with sleep.

  “What is it?” I asked, disoriented. “How long was I asleep?”

  “Hours, I think,” Tesla said, with wild eyes. “I knew we did not see something.”

  “What did we miss?” Ashton asked.

  “Something terrible, I believe.” He motioned for us to follow him to the counter.

  I stood, knees wobbly.

  “That Rothfair, he nearly died in his attempt to capture you, yes, Miss Blackburn? But he failed, and it was arguably his last chance because he could not prevent Lizzie and Defiance from obtaining the journal after all.”

  “Yes. I suppose that is true.”

  “And, as far as he is concerned, you had the means to discover the contents of the journal?”

  “Well…” I shrugged, attempting to follow his logic despite my pounding head. “He didn’t even know it was a book until I accidentally told him in the museum. Rothfair may not be aware it even needed de-coding.”

  Ashton leaned against the counter. “Go on.”

  “I know clockwork and gears.” Tesla motioned around the workshop. “All things mechanical, magnetic, and electric.”

  “Undisputedly so,” I urged.

  “Spur gears are quite popular. They are used to drive shafts, turbines, et cetera. You understand.”

  I glanced at Ashton, confused.

  “I’m afraid we do not,” Ashton said.

  “I knew I remembered those symbols from before. Years ago.” Tesla picked up a stack of plans, shaking them as he spoke. “Another kind of gear is a helical gear. Its straight, durable, and ideal for high load yield.” He pointed to Ashton’s sketches, to the one shaped like a comb. “These are drive shafts, as well.”

  “They are gears?” I stared at the sketches, shocked I did not see it before. “I am not familiar with the manufacturing symbol for these.”

  “Well the supplies you most likely use are not on this scale.” Tesla bothered the end of his mustache. “These are only known to those who use extremely large machinery. Such as I, when constructing the domes and the solarium orchards. Even the vast cattle enclosures use these parts. One crate, it would hold one, perhaps two pieces of equipment. No, Helical Industries, they must manufacture components for grand scale.”

  “What are you two talking about?” Ashton looked from Tesla to me, his brows furrowed.

  My gaze went to the machines peppered around Tesla’s workshop. The whirring and swinging pieces of metal all going at once, clicking and vacillating, without human intervention or direction. They simply ticked on…

  “So far, three of Rothfair’s facilities have suffered explosions. Two of those times the incident happened when he was with a large party. He could not have done it, but in the museum he said he sacrificed his own facilities. Unless he had someone do it for him—”

  “From what I know of him, the only one he would trust was Verne and Lizzie’s people had him under surveillance in Manhattan and the Boroughs. He didn’t use his citizen papers to leave the dome, I checked with my contacts. No record of him taking the rail to the wasteland.” Ashton shook his head. “It wasn’t Verne. He wouldn’t have had time or access to the facilities that were attacked.”

  “So it had to be Rothfair.” I remembered standing next to him at the ambient lamp. A buzzing on his pocket watch. He was a tinkerer. “Rothfair’s alarm. At the ball.”

  “Delay switch,” Tesla said, snapping his fingers, delighted. “A countdown.”

  “Are you saying Rothfair intends to destroy all the rest of his facilities?” Ashton shook his head. “Simply to get rid of evidence? If he is so entwined with the Governors, surely they would protect his interests.”

  “No, it is not his interests. That is not what this i
s about.” I paced, balling my numb fingers. “But he is desperate. He believes that he holds in his hands the salvation of all of us. That regardless of the cost in bodies lost to the Trembling Sickness, the lives saved by using the additive to extend the coal supplies and keep the domes in operation outweighs their deaths.”

  “Lizzie has the evidence. The people will find out what he’s doing and there will be outcry. He has lost, Charlie.”

  “It is not about winning to him,” I argued. “I saw his face.”

  “If he believes only he can save us…” Ashton looked at me, his face intense as realization hit him. “Charlie, he will destroy all the evidence of this failed experiment and continue in secret.”

  “Yes.” I nodded, my heart racing. “I believe so.”

  “And to keep his reputation and standing with the Peaceful Union he must appear blameless.” Tesla picked up the sketches. “He has the components for a time-delay detonation. All he needs is fuel and ignition.”

  “Which I’m sure he has,” I finished for him. “He’s done it before. But what is that large? Where would he make this additive in secret? It would have to be a large facility. How would he hide that from the Safety Commission?”

  Ashton stopped pacing, his face tight. “What if it was near the seams?”

  “The fissures?” Tesla shook his head. “Why would he build in such an unstable area?”

  “It would be a perfect place to conduct his research without notice. The seams are dangerous and more isolated than even the wasteland mines,” Ashton said.

  “Because they are perpetually burning rifts of gas,” I said, incredulous. “You are saying there are people working near those without melting?”

  “Rothfair’s last mining facility is but a mile from one of the largest seam fields east of the Dakotas.” Ashton paced. “If he is manufacturing the poisonous additive there, then it would explain why no evidence of what he has been doing has come to light despite safety officials inspecting his destroyed mines and factories.”

  “Some say that if we could harness the chasm vapors we could power—” Tesla stopped, his eyes widening. “If there is a tangible connection between where Rothfair manufactures the additive and the surface, then an explosion could ignite the poisonous blight and push it into the atmosphere.”